Don't deny some Marylanders the right to marry

I am a Roman Catholic, and I will be voting for Question 6 on the Maryland ballot on Tuesday. I am voting for this referendum because I believe my family member, Mike, and his partner, Ron, have as much right to marry as I have. I am voting for this referendum because I believe my friend, Jen, and her wife have as much right to be married as I am. I have been happily married to my husband for 26 years.

I am also a mental health counselor who counsels lesbian and gay clients as well as straight clients. The lesbians and gays whom I counsel want to be treated fairly and equally along with the rest of our citizens in Maryland.

For those of you who are considering voting against this referendum, stop and remember when you fell in love and married the man or woman with whom you were in love. What if the state had not allowed you to get married? How would you have felt about a state law forbidding you to marry the man or woman you love?

Everyone deserves to be treated equally under civil law. Question 6 in no way takes away our freedom of religion nor does it take away the freedom of clergy to refuse to marry two people. This referendum is about civil law, not church or other religious laws governing other faith communities.